C.Y. Ellis: Who would you say have been some of your toughest opponents?

Mark Edwards: There's no streetball player that can say, in any of our games that we've done, that have played against Hot Sauce and scored twenty points on him. I've got all the videotapes. I've got five years' worth of footage, and we have not one game where any guard has gone up against him and showed him up. And you know what? I'm looking for the day that happens so that I can tease him, but I can't say nothing to him.

Try as we may to find it, there is no definition which quite covers the one-man phenomenon that took a game with a half-century of history and remixed it in a single summer. How could mere words describe someone who brings capacity crowds to their feet in anticipation of what he might do? Which adjectives could accurately describe a player who routinely crosses defenders off their feet and fans off their seats? What combinations of letters on a page could capture the feeling in a park, gym or arena when a slightly-built six-footer does something so astonishing with a piece of synthetic leather that spectators rush the floor?

The world-famous HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS were originally formed from the Wendell Phillips High School. The team played in the Negro American Legion League as the "Giles Post," and in 1927 turned professional as the Savoy Big Five under manager Dick Hudson. Later that year, promoter Abe Saperstein (Hall of Fame, 1971) bought the team and re-named it the Harlem Globetrotters.

General/Summary: Overall this game is prettey cool. In the past, 989 has gotten a bad rep and deservedly so. Well, what a surprise to see it finally out doing the well favord EA sports company. In my mind, this game is the best college basketball game out. Now I know that isn't saying much but Final Four is the best option for college b-ball lovers like myself. After seeing EA's March Madness, I had to laugh because it dosen't even offer the option of playing in a season. So unless you want to play a six game tournament over and over, Final Four is the choice to make. However, this game is not without some flaws of its own. The game has prettey good graphics but it still doesn't come up to par with the capabilites of the PS2. The lack of player models is sort of a let down. I understand that you can't make every person in the game down to their exact physical characteristics but a little more than 8 diffent player faces would be nice. Also when playing the game, I was impressed by the movement of the crowed and the chears that performed at various times. However, This game promissed to have the crowds chant authentic school cheers and the band playing the fight songs. I have heard these on a very rare occasion. It would also be nice to have the crowed yell real loud when the visiting team has the ball. The commentary is prettey good. I do wish that they could say a little more though. Every time you turn the ball over like 8 or more times you will hear " They're just givin the ball away tonight." But other than that the sound is good. This game is fun and it allows you to get into it with option of playing a full season and keeping track of rankings, stats, and even 1st and 2nd team all conference and all american awards.

General/Summary: This is a pleasent new way to approach basketball simulation, but unfortunately too many problems that just ruins the whole game. Nba Shootout 2003 has however improved a lot since 2001. with the right analog stick making it easy to perform crossovers. The problem is that this game still lacks compared to other basketball titles out (live and 2k). The graphics, gameplay and commutary have all improved but still are terrible compared to other b-ball games. Overall this game is a poor nba live knockoff and will never be the best b-ball game out there.

General/Summary: I've stayed away from this game since the PS2 has come along mainly because EA, until recently, has done a poor job of making great games. In that time fortunately the folks at Sega have provided more than enough competition and isn't that free market economy on display...there is nothing greater than competition to produce quality games.

This year we finally have TWO quality games to choose from. While I know this is a review of NBA Live it is hard to deny any comparisons between Live and the 2K series. Having played both games and I will state for the record that I'm a big 2K fan. This years Live has certainly gained some credibility with me. The obvious statements have been made about the differences between these games. The biggest and most common comparison is Live is arcade while 2K is sim. This simply is not true.

The differences in these games are NBA style of basketball circa 1983 versus current NBA style. Anyone who thinks Live is arcade like dosen't have a sense of NBA history. In the late '70's and through the mid-80's NBA games routinely finished with both teams socoring well over a hundred points. I remember in 1983 the game between Detroit and Denver that finished with both teams scoring over 175 points each!!! Back then the NBA was about open and offensive play. Sure defence is important but 20 years ago no one really cared. It was about running the court and getting the easy baskets on the other end.

Todays NBA is all about defence. Players are bigger, faster, stronger and they even play harder but all of that leads to much less scoring. In a nut shell that is the difference between Live and 2K. Live is open, fast and defence is secondary in strategy. In 2K it is much more half court, run your plays to perfection and play good hard defence. Which is better? Thats up to you. If you prefer old-school NBA to modern NBA then Live is your game. IT IS NOT AN ARCADE TITLE.

General/Summary: As a devoted NBA Live fan I feel the need to allow the truth to be told about this game. First of all this game is good. Not great, not bad and a whole hell of alot better than NBA 2K2. I've read so many negative reviews about NBA Live 2002 and I just don't see what everyone else does. I've played Live 2002 for countless hours and at times I'm still in awe about how smooth the gameplay is and how the players look so true to life. To me NBA 2K2 does not hold a candle to NBA Live 2002. I'd like you to hear why so read carefully and take heed because this review is on point.

Located on 155th street and 8th avenue in New York City is the legendary playground of Rucker Park. What's special about this court is the level of the game played. Rucker is a pure place of street basketball expression where you will see the wildest, latest, and most impressives moves ever. The park got it's name from a man who had a vision to use streetball as his tool to give the city's youth the opportunity to express themselves. His name, Holcombe Rucker, the man who changed the game forever. The park was opened on February 23rd 1956 which was first named as P.S. 156 Playground. It wasn't until 1974, 9 years after Mr.Rucker past away, a local law re-named it Holcombe Rucker.